Assessment of antibacterial activity of self-etching dental adhesive systems: An in vitro study

AIM: To evaluate and compare the antibacterial activity of polymerized, two-step, self-etching and one-step, self-etching adhesive systems by using the direct contact test after one, seven, and fourteen days. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The direct contact test was used to evaluate the antibacterial activity of Clearfil Protect Bond, Adper SE Plus, Clearfil SE Bond, and Adper Easy One on Streptococcus mutans after aging the samples in phosphate-buffered saline for one, seven, and fourteen days. Statistical analysis included the one-way Anova and Tukey's multiple comparison tests. RESULTS: Among the tested materials, Clearfil Protect Bond exhibited an antibacterial effect for seven days when in contact with S. mutans. None of the adhesive systems exhibited any antibacterial effect after 14 days. CONCLUSION: The incorporation of antibacterial agents into dentine-bonding agents may become an essential factor in inhibiting residual bacteria in the cavity following a cavity disinfection procedure, and it could be recommended in situations where total disinfection of cavity is not accomplished due to lack of accessibility.